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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the banks of the Humber, combined with a determined home side pushing hard for promotion, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but the opposition are a good team and it was a difficult fixture; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was nice to get a positive welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the lads was superb."

Liam Rosenior holds this city dear to him, considering some of his family are from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a magnificent performance from his squad, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Deadly Edge Secures Comfortable Victory

Three days after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home support evidently sensed it too, but Rosenior's men navigated the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting seven of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been settled earlier than it actually was, with both the Brazilian winger and Liam Delap guilty of missing excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

However, luckily for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the scoring with a marvellous distance strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Influence

Hull showed great spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. The winger should have opened the scoring when he went past keeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had gone over the line. It had not, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had responded to clear the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his pass teed up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Shortly after the second half began, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Put Beyond Doubt and Attention Turns

Soon after the second goal, the match was put beyond doubt as a magnificent dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as the provider again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly slot past a helpless goalkeeper.

By that stage, the work Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their focus must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of first-choice players with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we play like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," the Hull manager commented. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was plenty of effort to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their new head coach at a stadium he knows intimately.

Cup History Are Good

That resulted in an in the end routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are positive from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three other occasions in this tournament in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to make the showpiece. Much still done in that regard, but this was another significant positive for Rosenior.